May 2016

Writing supports—like text readers, text highlighting and word prediction—make educational content more accessible for every student. And of course that includes English Language Learners as well young people with dyslexia and other everyday literacy challenges.

I’ve heard a few people ask whether these extra supports are somehow ‘unfair’. But in my view, doesn’t everyone need some assistance and encouragement when they’re learning something new?

Read&Write for Google Chrome users have yet another reason to be excited about the literacy support toolbar used by over 4.5 million students and teachers in classrooms across the globe. Today we’re excited to announce several new updates available for immediate use, including:

Speech Maker - Select text in a Google Doc or the Web and create an MP3 file with a single click.

Customizable Toolbar - You can now add, remove and re-order individual features on the Read&Write toolbar

Keyboard Accessibility - Improved keyboard accessibility is now available. Just activate the toolbar and use your arrow or tab keys to choose the feature you need.

Improvements to our Icons, Dictionary, Translator, and more!

Check out the quick video below, and continue reading for more details.

As final exams are fast approaching, now would be the optimal time to review ways students can help themselves to truly understand and retain the information covered over the last term. We often assume that by high school students know not only methods to learn, but the ways which are most effective for the individual. But learning how to learn from lecture, reading, and videos is rarely the focus of any class. Here are five tips that will assist students in studying text more effectively.